Not linked to GTD but valuable on different levels:
"Antifragile, Things that gain from disorder" from Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Black Swan)

Thanks, I'll have to read that!

I liked "A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder - How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and on-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place" by Eric Abrahamson. He comes up with all sorts of examples where a certain amount of disorder is actually preferable to order: for example, what's the first thing you do when you pick up a deck of cards that are all in order? You shuffle them, because they're more useful in a random order. He admits that order is also useful; he's just pointing out that in many situations, the optimal amount of order or disorder is something other than perfect order.

Comment

Someone I passed in the park had "Antifragile," and I almost stopped to ask what it was about. Intriguing title. H@ns and vicve, please let us know what you think.

Definitely will, John!

Additionally, I posted a recent blog post with my "If-I-Could-Only-Read/Reread-Three-Books-This-Year" list. Of course, GTD was #1! I've read all of David's books but only once and have heard so many state how beneficial it is to reread them. Definitely something I plan to do for the coming year!

He comes up with all sorts of examples where a certain amount of disorder is actually preferable to order: for example, what's the first thing you do when you pick up a deck of cards that are all in order? You shuffle them, because they're more useful in a random order. He admits that order is also useful; he's just pointing out that in many situations, the optimal amount of order or disorder is something other than perfect order.

I don't agree with his statements that you quote and I think that "deck of cards" example is demagogic. I can give you many similar examples - you put trash in the trashcan in a random order, you use tennis balls in a random order etc. but it does not prove anything. Does he give any logical example?

I can give you many similar examples - you put trash in the trashcan in a random order, you use tennis balls in a random order etc. but it does not prove anything.

I put trash in a random order because it takes less effort -- not because a randomly-ordered trash container is actually better than an ordered one. Randomly-ordered trash could be better because you'd be unlikely to end up with one light-weight trash bag and one heavy back-breaking one, or because small objects might often go inside large ones and take up less space; or ordered trash could be better because similar objects might stack and take up less space. Some stuff gets recycled or composted, requiring some sorting.

Does he give any logical example?

He gives both types of examples: where it's not worth the effort to impose perfect order, or where a degree of randomness is actually preferable to perfect order and sometimes worth spending effort to obtain, as with the deck of cards.

He gives both types of examples: where it's not worth the effort to impose perfect order, or where a degree of randomness is actually preferable to perfect order and sometimes worth spending effort to obtain, as with the deck of cards.

I am really sorry but I cannot accept this "perfect mess" concept and I consider this idea to be a ridiculous marketing trick to sell a book with a controversial title.

You once again gave the same "deck of cards" example which - in my opinion - proves nothing. Randomness is the element of many games. It gives us fun of unpredictability in games. And that is all. Do we need such unpredictability in our projects? Do we need it when we are looking for our car keys or socks?

I've read first paragraphs of the book available from amazon.com. The authors describe an example of two magazine stores on Broadway in Manhattan - messy and tidy. The messy one wins and it is meant to be a "proof" that messiness can be good. I think that authors know nothing about running a business and about a complicated nature of factors that determine if you win or lose.

I've read first paragraphs of the book available from amazon.com. The authors describe an example of two magazine stores on Broadway in Manhattan - messy and tidy.

Those paragraphs are part of the Google Book preview; here's a link to it for anyone interested.http://books.google.ca/books?id=GWjf...ed=0CEMQ6AEwAg
This magazine store example is one of the ones where (apparently) order is beneficial, but the cost of maintaining that much order is greater than the benefits gained from it.

Comment

Not linked to GTD but valuable on different levels:
"Antifragile, Things that gain from disorder" from Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Black Swan)

Actually, I think "Antifragile" is linked to GTD. The whole point of GTD is to keep your personal system from being fragile - from crashing when it is subjected to the various inputs that hit it.

Taleb's point is that some things are fragile, and some the opposite of fragile, which he calls "antifragile". The human body can be fragile but in some cases - such as exercise causing damage which results in muscle growth, or a vaccine of some kind introducing a small amount of disease designed to force the body to react and strengthen its defenses against that disease - it is antifragile.

I don't know that GTD would make your system antifragile - that it would grow stronger as it handles various inputs, but it is certainly designed to make it robust - something that will not break no matter how hard it is hit.

Though I doubt I'm good enough at GTD to really say. Maybe a personal management system using GTD does get stronger as it is tested. I'm certainly getting better at handling things that hit me without having a meltdown...